Valley City Municipal Auditorium · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Valley City sees less violent crime per resident than seven in ten U.S. towns
Overall, Valley City grades B for safety (#4 of 16 graded towns in North Dakota): less crime per resident than 61% of U.S. towns, on crimes its police reported from 2023 to 2025. On top of that, the local count comes to 0.9 violent crime and 10.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 3.2 and 23.3 in the rest of North Dakota.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of ND” is every other North Dakota city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Valley City
Among North Dakota towns, higher
North Dakota’s cities and towns report less crime than most states’, so Valley City’s place among its own towns differs from its national one: it reports less crime than 75% of the 16 North Dakota towns we grade, against 61% nationally. Safety Grade ↓
A college town
Valley City is home to Valley City State University, with 1,299 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 12% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Valley City’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Show as a table
| Year | Valley City | Rest of North Dakota | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.5 | 3.6 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
Valley City’s police reported 18 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.9 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of North Dakota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Crime in Valley City per 1,000 residents
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Reported crime is steady
Show as a table
| Year | Valley City property | Rest of North Dakota property | Valley City violent | Rest of North Dakota violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17.6 | 26.8 | 1.5 | 3.6 |
| 2023 | 12.4 | 26.1 | 0.6 | 3.4 |
| 2024 | 9.5 | 23.6 | 1.5 | 3.4 |
| 2025 | 10.3 | 20.3 | 0.6 | 2.8 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of North Dakota.
72 crimes reported in 2025
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total. 2025 figures come from FBI Crime Data Explorer, which publishes violent crime, homicides, robberies and property crime only.
4 violent and 68 property, as reported to the FBI by Valley City’s police.
No one died in a crash on Valley City’s roads in 2019–2023
That is about what is typical for North Dakota towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (3.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Valley City’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Valley City’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Valley City and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valley City | B | 0.9 | 10.7 |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
North Dakota towns of a similar size
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valley City | B | 0.9 | 10.7 |
| Lincoln | A− | 0.6 | 4.8 |
| Grafton | B | 1.3 | 9.9 |
| Wahpeton | C+ | 2.1 | 16.4 |
| Watford City | C− | 3.5 | 20.9 |
The five graded North Dakota towns closest to Valley City’s population (6,430), by grade.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Valley City. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Valley City’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (6,580 in 2025); our figure for Valley City is 6,430 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Valley City
Is Valley City, ND safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Valley City reports less crime per resident than 61% of U.S. towns, a B Safety Grade and #4 of 16 in North Dakota. Its police reported 0.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.2 in the rest of North Dakota and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Valley City?
0.9 violent and 10.7 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of North Dakota reports 3.2 and 23.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Who polices Valley City?
Valley City’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Valley City Police Department”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
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Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Valley City.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.